


no correction, just cover up

by basketofnovas (slashmarks)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Aphrodisiacs, Blackcest (Harry Potter), Cousin Incest, Domestic Violence, F/M, Forced Marriage, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Non-Con, Past Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Rough Sex, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:48:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24908659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmarks/pseuds/basketofnovas
Summary: In a world with no Voldemort and fewer radical blood purists, Sirius marries his cousin straight out of Hogwarts instead of running away.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Comments: 12
Kudos: 97
Collections: Fandom 5K 2020





	no correction, just cover up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HandmaidenOfHorror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/gifts).



> I hope the recipient enjoys this treat! You requested fucked up, terrible pureblood families and the Black elders wanting Sirius and Bellatrix to produce a pure heir. Hopefully this delivers them in a form you like - I took a look at the tags on your work for guidance.
> 
> Title from "Shiver" by The Birthday Massacre.

Sirius Black, heir to the House, Noble and Most Ancient, Evil, etc, got off the train after his seventh and final year of school and stepped into a world of wedding preparations.

It did sort of make sense, in that Bella had been waiting for him to graduate for years. While witches stayed fertile a long time, Blacks tended to die messily and young. Their parents and grandparents wanted the two of them to hurry up and produce that heir, just in case one of them got killed, or disowned.

And speaking of that last option...

"Do you get a feeling they're trying to rush us through this in case we have second thoughts?" Sirius said. 

"Don't be absurd, Sirius," Bellatrix said. "In order for us to have second thoughts, we would have needed to be allowed first ones."

She was supposed to be choosing flower arrangements, or bouquets for her attendants, or something. She had concocted a complicated system for this involving a handful of gaming dice stolen out of their mutual grandfather's office, several numbered lists, and occasionally throwing a knife at a chart on the wall that Sirius couldn't make heads or tails of. (That last one might have been unrelated). It seemed like following this system took more effort than just picking her real flower preferences would have, but then, that might have been the point.

"Okay, in case we panic and break before they can get us in front of the altar," Sirius said. 

"The church might be a better place to make a stand than the house, when you think about it." Bellatrix rolled a three and a four, frowned, and circled 'violets' on one list. 

Then she twisted in her chair and threw a knife neatly into the circle marked 'epsilon' on the wall, picked up a quill and added a line to the letter she was writing to the florist. (Unimpeachably pureblood for three generations, which was how you could tell Sirius's mother had been in charge of most of the proceedings. His father wouldn't have cared, particularly if the florist was pretty.)

Sirius tried to return his mind to the conversation. "How do you make that one out?"

"Fewer protective enchantments and an unlocked door."

"Everyone will be in the room, though."

"I suppose." Bellatrix dipped her quill in the inkwell as punctuation to her thoughts, then continued, "I can probably take our grandfathers and Father if you can get Uncle Orion. Mother will undoubtedly be drunk again, so she's no trouble. But that leaves Aunt Walburga open, not to mention any spontaneous vigilantism from the audience."

"We could put poison in Mother's tea." 

"No good. She's immune; she made a pact with Satan," Bellatrix said conversationally. "What did you actually come in here for? Because if it was just to watch me I'm making you help."

"Your mother wants your opinion on the tailor," Sirius said, and at the look on Bella's face, fled before the next knife came at him instead of the wall.

All of the things that had to get done immediately or at least as soon as possible seemed to suck hours out of the day, never mind that the wedding date had been planned for months and most of it could have been decided at leisure by post before school let out. Sirius was not permitted to not have opinions. He could consult with Bella, but only if he dared her wrath for adding more to her to do lists. Furthermore people kept insisting he _think_ about things, and look the options over at length, rather than just pointing.

After a few days of dropping into bed the moment he was allowed to retreat he was nearly certain it was an intentional technique. He had read something about muggles doing it when they brainwashed people to change their political allegiances. It had been in one of Remus's books back before Remus dumped him for going ahead with marrying his cousin. If you filled up every moment of someone's time with thoughts - reading or mindless copying or giving one's opinion on fifty quasi-identical menus and then having to justify it to demonstrate one had been listening - they didn't have time to plan or question.

He hadn't even had time to talk to James on the mirrors, or Lily or Peter, or to make a futile attempt at getting Remus to talk to him. Certainly writing a personal letter and trying to sneak it into the post without getting dragged off was out of the question. He'd bet Bella hadn't been left alone for long enough to consult with anyone uninvolved in the wedding in months. She was the real flight risk, after all, she had had years as a qualified adult to plan.

When he realized this he was lying in bed, hazy with exhaustion. He had just gotten undressed at about one in the morning after a three hour argument with his mother over the guest list. He thought the part about Bella and then thought, _I should ask her._ He resolved to get up and go do it; she would understand him waking her over something like this, especially since they needed each other as allies right now (and would need each other all the more in a few more weeks when it was all over). He was going to do it any moment, just as soon as he could force his body upright...

His thoughts continued in this vein for a while until someone was rapping on his door and shouting at him to get up, he was running late and his father needed him to come to a breakfast meeting.

Sirius groaned and rolled out of bed. He wondered whether his father would actually kill him or merely flagellate him if he showed up at a business meeting after using freshen up charms instead of bathing and changing his clothes.

It took two more days to manage a private conversation with Bellatrix. He had _seen_ her plenty, but it had all been supervised thoroughly by adult family members, or else he'd been sent to go ask her something quick and wary of his mother bursting in if he took too long. Finally Sirius managed to excuse himself from a Ministry dinner that had run very late without his father's accompaniment, mostly because his father had been cornered by the eminent and indefatigable Hepzibah Smith and hadn't been able to escape in time to intercept. 

Sirius had fully expected to be kept out until the thing wrapped up at two or three, but his father's predicament left him unexpectedly clear to go home at about midnight. The house was dark when he got back, and everyone seemed to be in bed. They had been letting Bellatrix sleep somewhat more than him, possibly because there would be gossip if the bride looked actively ill; possibly only because between weddings being mostly women's organizational problem and the fact that she'd been working for the family as an adult for years it was easier to cram work into her every waking moment. 

Walking softly in case Kreacher had been asked to notify his mother when he got back, Sirius ghosted up the flights of stairs to the girls' bedrooms. With Cissy married and Andy... gone, Bella's was the only occupied one. The wards she had laid over her door knew him and let him in readily, which was a good thing, since knocking might have drawn attention. He slid inside and closed the door before he risked lighting the lamp with his wand.

Bella was soundly asleep, sprawled on her side with her hair braided for bed. Sirius had been in her bedroom at night plenty as a child but not really much since he was old enough for it to be considered improper by their parents. Her night dress was much scantier than he remembered her wearing before, ivory lace and gauze only a few shades darker than her smooth, unmarked skin, and held up only by straps at the shoulder.

He knew intellectually that Bellatrix was one of the most beautiful women he had met or was likely to, and he actually liked his cousin a great deal. The thought of having to have sex with her was still faintly horrifying, like a bad joke. He still didn't believe it was about to happen. 

All through his adolescence it had seemed apparent that he was about to run away, sure to storm off or be disowned in a row or both any day now. He had actually run to the Potters a few times overnight at fifteen; that had been a bad year. But every time in the morning when his father had called to find out if he was there, he had gone down and apologized to James's parents for making a fuss and gone home without a fight. 

It had not seemed worth dragging them into the political quagmire of defying the Blacks when the Potters lived a quiet life away from Society and mostly occupied themselves with Mr. Potter's potions business. And there was nothing really so bad about his life, Sirius had always justified to a skeptical James and a quietly furious Remus: he was handsome and set for life, and there were people with _real_ problems out there. (He had known perfectly well he was lying about that. Often he'd been having these conversations with the mirror strategically angled so that bruises would not show. But if knowing his parents were dangerous even to any adult who tried to help was bad, having his friends look at him with pity and understand how little they could do would be worse.)

He had opened his mouth at every family meal over last Christmas to say _I'm not marrying Bella, I'm in love with Remus Lupin, he's a halfblood werewolf and I'm not sorry._ Every time he had closed his mouth again and thought, tomorrow, until the last day of break when he'd thought _I'll break it to them by post._

He hadn't actually believed he was safe from the entire world in Bella's room since he was very young and mostly afraid of nightmares, but the familiar contents were still comforting. He sat down on the edge of the mattress by her head and touched the end of her braid, wrapped around her like a snake. For the first time he said it out loud: "I'm in love with Remus Lupin. He's a halfblood werewolf, and I'm not sorry."

Bella's eyes flickered. She squinted at him and mumbled, "Didn't he dump you back in March?"

"He seemed to think I was doing something wrong, being engaged to you, and all."

"As though you had anything to do with it. He should have taken it up with our parents." Bellatrix yawned.

"That's what I said, but he seemed to think I was making excuses."

"Well, you know what the lower classes are like. All this nonsense about love and freedom and rights..."

"Whereas you and I know the _true_ meaning of life is..." Sirius's voice cracked, and he couldn't remember how to finish the sentence. He wished she hadn't reminded him of the breakup; his eyes were burning.

"Timing your affairs just right so your lordly husband won't notice, all the while knowing he'll pretend not to as long as you maintain an implausible obliviousness to his inexhaustible supply of muggle call girls?" Bellatrix sat up. "--Oh, no, Sirius, come here. Look, he wasn't good enough for you. All pithy one liners cribbed from fake Eastern philosophy translations and an unhealthy fondness for chocolate. C'mere. You'll find another boyfriend who..."

"Doesn't mind being a dirty secret, up until a reporter photographs me screwing him in a French luxury hotel and I have to claim it was a mistake and I've been under a lot of stress lately?" Sirius said into her neck.

"Well, seeing as you're marrying _me_ and not your mother, you don't have to claim it was a mistake. We can tell the _Prophet_ we've got an open marriage and scandalize them. It'll be fun."

"Only if you've already had the children or Father might _actually_ kill you."

"Your mother's the one who'd murder me for tainting the bloodline. Uncle Orion probably wouldn't care if you put Remus Lupin in my dress and veil and married him instead as long as you did your share of the paperwork. Honestly, he might not even notice, it's a pretty thick veil. Call your boyfriend, we'll test it out."

Sirius laughed despite himself. He knew it was what she had been aiming for; the tears had dried up with it. "Look," he said, "I know you were flippant about it before, but - that's what all the work is about, isn't it? They're trying to stop us from planning."

Bella sighed. "Don't fight it too hard, Siri," she said, rubbing a curl over his eye back towards his temple. "We'll have all the time in the world for private conversations in a couple of weeks."

"What if I want to? Fight it?" he said.

Bellatrix gave him a long look. "I can call Andy and ask her to give you a hand dodging the tracking spells, but you realize they're going to _care_ more about tracking you down. You're the heir, and everyone in the family knows Reggie..."

"Isn't suited, yeah," Sirius said. "Wait, you're speaking to Andy? Since _when_?"

"I witnessed at her wedding." Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at him. "Her daughter's adorable, just turned four. Once we're married they won't care so much where you go, they'll figure you're resigned. I'll introduce you."

"I can't tell whether we all have hidden depths, or we're just a bunch of cowardly hypocrites."

"Say lunatics, it's more glamorous," Bellatrix commanded, and he laughed again and knew it was hopeless.

"So you're really going to do it," James said, staring into the mirror flatly.

"What else are we going to do with all this champagne? Use it for accelerant and burn down the house?"

"Wouldn't work, it's not high enough proof," said James distractedly. 

"I know. It was a joke." Sirius sighed. "Yeah, well, it's that or run away, and I'm not a cute, sympathetic abused kid anymore." Nobody would have cared about the bruises but if he'd gotten to MLE with the Cruciatus shakes that might've been another story. "I mean, if I made it to France I'd have a decent chance because Father's contacts aren't as high placed, but..."

"You really think they'd kill you?" James's eyebrows went up.

Sirius shrugged. "Kill me? Nah. They'd put me under the Imperius Curse and make me go through the wedding anyway so the heirs would be legitimate." He didn't want to think about what would happen after that. "I can't leave Bella."

"So take her _with_ you."

"We can't leave Reggie," Sirius said. "Look, just say you'll come, please? I can't stand doing this alone, I'll go crazy. I love Bella but she has a million friends she hasn't seen in months and they'll all be there, she's not going to want to spend the whole reception holding my hand. You can bring Lils, I made sure the invitation was a plus one. Tell her to wear those shoes that bore holes in dance floors if they aren't reinforced." Sirius and James were both big fans of stilettos but for very different reasons.

"Nobody's going to curse her in the back, are they?" James said.

Sirius shrugged. "Nah. They'll snub her, but she's better than them all anyway and she knows it. Offering violence to an invited guest would be uncouth." Which ranked higher than murder and far above adultery in the list of sins as far as most of Society was concerned.

James sighed. "Fine. I'll come, but you owe me. Even Dad can't get me to come to these things most of the time."

Sirius kept his mouth shut on the subject of the extremely minimal things James's father occasionally tried to get him to do - after all, if James had been a responsible and respectably behaved young man he wouldn't have been nearly so attractive as a friend - and asked how he and Lily were doing. This had the advantage of filling up the conversation until he could truthfully say his mother was calling him and hang up the mirror.

There were three days to the wedding, and the first of the out of town relatives had arrived.

All through the next few days, Bella kept shooting him these _looks_. He knew she was talking out something, because she kept vanishing into corners with Rodolphus Lestrange until Sirius's mother went and dragged them out, lecturing her about chastity. Since Rodolphus was her best friend and not actually her boyfriend, Sirius was sure something tactical was going on, but she didn't breathe a word of it to him.

Finally, on the last day before they were doomed, Sirius caught her in the garden, smuggling a cigarette. "Okay, what's up?"

"Nicotine's addictive, didn't you hear?" Bellatrix was in the one blind spot you couldn't see from the house windows or the back door, wedged into a corner of the wall and half behind a shrub, with her fingers cupped around it.

"Not that," Sirius said. "You and Lestrange?"

"We've been talking things over," Bellatrix said vaguely, and, "So you're really going to do it."

Sirius blinked at Bellatrix. It hadn't really occurred to him that _she_ might not want to agree, for all they had joked about making a last stand in the church. She'd had years if she was going to run away. "Would you rather I refused?"

"They'd kill us," Bellatrix said, in a voice that might or might not have been joking.

Sirius, unfortunately, could interpret that. "So you want to refuse, but you know it's hopeless, and you were hoping I'd either refuse for you or convince you it was doable."

"Stop psychoanalyzing me or I'll resort to the Cruciatus."

"Where'd you learn a word like psychoanalyze, Bells? Sneaking out into muggle London?" Sirius asked, then ducked, mock cowering when she threateningly raised her wand. "--I'll stop. Look, if you want to run, I'll run with you, if you want to go tell them the wedding's off at dinner, I'll stand by you..."

"But you know it wouldn't end well, same as I do, and you'd rather not risk it since you like living, same as I do," Bellatrix said, and took a drag off her cigarette. "At least we make good spouses."

"Partnership, support, etc," Sirius said. "Can I have one?"

"No."

"After today all you own is legally mine."

"I'd better finish the pack now, then," Bellatrix said.

The wedding was fine. For all they had been bogged down for a month in petty detail, absolutely nothing about it had been in question from the start. It was the same church his parents and Bella's had married in, the same ceremony, and approximately the same people, plus a generation or two of children and minus one or two of elderlies. 

Bella looked at him through her veil when she came in, all the way at the other end of the church. For a moment Sirius thought she would break - turn and run, or draw her wand. She paused. Her head tilted back. She looked up, as though she was seeing the sky, as though she was praying to God. 

Then her head came back down and she walked.

Oh Merlin, oh God, this was really happening. This was really his life. 

The touch of her hands was the first real thing he'd felt all day. He curled his fingers around hers, clung to them, and let the words of the ceremony wash over him.

There was no point in panicking now. The marriage spells had been cast beforehand. It was all already over.

They didn't really get a chance to talk until dinner was over, since their family was seated with them at the high table. Contrary to what Sirius had said to James, Bella danced with him twice and followed him over to a table to sit down after. She looked no better than him.

"I was expecting it to be easier once it was done, but I don't think it is," Sirius said quietly. "I mean, I'd always been - looking at it as just this one day, this one decision, and..."

"Now you can see the century or so on the other side," Bellatrix said. "Cheer up, it does get better."

"Does it?"

"Yes, now you're out of school you can drink as much as you like." He elbowed her in the ribs, trying to be subtle, and she grinned. "There's also Dark magic."

"I hate you," Sirius said.

"That's good. Hate is passion," Bella said brightly.

They fell silent. Sirius turned to grab them champagne flutes off a tray, and when he looked back her mood had turned. Her face was pensive.

"It'll be better once there are children. That's what I hear," she said slowly, staring out over the floor. "Yes, we don't get a lot of choices, but..."

"But at least we can inflict the ones we do on our children?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I don't expect you to help," Bellatrix said snidely. "Not after the mandatory part, I realize you're still a teenager."

"Ouch." Sirius subsided. "That's not what I meant, I just- I don't like the thought of our children going through this, too. We're not even going to be able to - I mean, it won't even be _our_ decision, will it? Sure, I'm heir, but not for decades."

"Congratulations," Bellatrix said, tilting her head at his mother, who was currently dancing nearly obscenely with a man who looked about twenty-five. "You've come to understand how your father feels."

He did eventually get up to go say hi to James and Lily. Contrary to dire predictions, people _were_ speaking to her; no one in his family besides him, but blood purity wasn't as universal an ideal as it had been when his parents were young. Plenty of Black wedding invitees were willing to make small talk or dance with a muggleborn even it they wouldn't have engaged her to their sons. Then again, most of them probably just didn't know who she was.

Sirius sat down and talked to James and Lily about normal things and tried not to hate either of them too much with jealousy. Then he got up and danced with Lily after a while; then Narcissa; then there were a couple of group dances. When he finally went to go sit down again he realized Bella wasn't in sight.

If she'd snuck off with - someone, he wasn't actually sure who Bellatrix was interested in, if anyone - he didn't care. But if it was their parents making trouble again... Maybe she had just gone outside to smoke.

Thinking he could excuse being antisocial by saying he'd been looking for her, anyway, Sirius slipped out.

Eventually he found Bellatrix in what looked like a small dressing room off the upper hall. She had taken her veil off and was playing with her hair more than fixing it; she jumped when the door opened and met his eyes in the mirror, then said, "Oh, it's you," and looked back down.

"I can go," Sirius said.

"It's fine," Bellatrix said. "I'm not really doing anything, just..."

Her voice was thick, and Sirius felt completely out of his depth. "Do you want to tell me?" he tried.

"I just always thought Andromeda would be here, is all," Bellatrix said, staring into the mirror. She didn't cry.

They got back to the house around dawn. Thankfully, since the family generally accepted that Bellatrix and Sirius got along (unlike, say, Sirius's parents), they were left in privacy then. The master suite was unfamiliar, for all Kreacher had moved their things into it over the course of the day, and Sirius felt a little lost in it.

"Help me get these stupid pins out," Bellatrix said at the vanity, struggling with her hands above her ear.

Sirius went to help. His mouth was dry. He was almost grateful now for the stupid formalities, for the awkward party, for the weeks of sleep deprivation and constant work, because it had distracted him. He had not been able to focus his anticipation on _this_ , on the moment that all of it had been leading to.

They could dress it up in decorations and fine clothing and religious ceremony, they could drag God into it and force everyone to smile and hide their whispers about inbreeding behind their hands. But ultimately, all of this was because his parents wanted him and Bellatrix to reproduce - to screw and produce an heir, Black on both sides, no outside loyalties and no chance of outside help.

There might have been something about Bellatrix's inheritance rights in that long ago explanation, too, but that was a fairly paper thin excuse. This had nothing to do with anyone's _rights._

Sirius bent, shaking, and kissed Bellatrix's bare shoulder.

They didn't talk for a while after that, not to each other, although at one point Bellatrix mumbled something that might have been a prayer or might have been a spell. Sirius kissed her neck and her mouth, and they stumbled into the bed. Sirius had a nauseating thought that this would be the first thing they used it for, and he'd have to think of it every time he slept there, _Merlin._ Before he could suggest they consummate the marriage somewhere else - the floor, the couch, the _roof_ \- Bellatrix was shoving him down onto it. Her hands, too, were trembling.

They kissed again. Sirius tasted something on her mouth that wasn't makeup and wasn't blood and wondered if she'd taken a potion for this but he didn't ask. Lying down together, holding each other, that was alright; they had done this so many times and he'd felt safe there. He wasn't sure he would after this. He wasn't sure how he could, after this.

She had beautiful hair, soft and gleaming with the gaslight, and she was warm against him if he just closed his eyes and tried not to think. He tried not to inhale either, since she had been wearing the same perfume since he was a child. If he'd been thinking about this earlier he would have asked her to change it for the wedding. If he'd been thinking--

He slid a hand up to cup her face and nuzzled into her jaw, and they might have been alright except when she got that far he wasn't hard. Palming him wasn't helping, either. This might have been the first time in his life he hadn't been able to get an erection when he wanted one, being eighteen and reasonably fit. After a while he turned away and said, tiredly, "Just stop."

Bellatrix sat up. Slowly, carefully, she said, "Do you want help?"

"Help like a potion, or...?"

"I have them, yes," Bellatrix said. She stopped, cleared her throat. "I can put you under the Imperius Curse."

Sirius simultaneously felt greatly relieved and completely appalled. The reactions canceled each other out and he sat frozen for a moment until she added, "That wasn't a threat. I thought it might be... easier."

"I don't know. I don't think so," Sirius said. He sat up, too, put an arm around her shoulders. "I mean, for one thing, I can throw it off. If I'm under I'm not sure I'll think not to." 

"I remember teaching you, yes." Bellatrix leaned into him, under his arm. He was exactly even with her height these days. "Is it just that it's me, or?"

"Mostly, yeah." Sirius closed his eyes. "It's not that you're a girl, I mean, I've had sex with girls. You're fine, you're lovely, you're just..."

"Your cousin," Bellatrix said.

"Practically my sister," Sirius said. "I'd say we could try the curse, but it's not like we can do that every time."

"I mean, we can. There are people who do. But I take your point." Bellatrix kissed his cheek. "Try the aphrodisiac potions, then?"

"I suppose we'd better," Sirius said.

The potion tasted of oyster and orange peel going down, an unpleasant mixture. He washed it down with water and then it was easier. She was still Bella, still lovely-but-my-cousin, but with the potion thundering through him it felt messed up in a potentially sexy sort of way instead of just laughably hopeless, or just hopelessly laughable.

He kissed her and pushed her down on her back, and kissed her again. She clung to him with her fingers leaving marks on his biceps and her knees outside his. They had half-talked, half-joked about their tastes, so he knew not to be afraid of bruising her in return, wrenching her over by her shoulder, twisting a hand in her hair. The rougher he was, the more responsive _she_ was, although she hadn't seemed to be having trouble earlier. Then again she'd already taken something.

If it hadn't been for all of that hair, and the smoothness of her unscarred skin, he might have been able to imagine Remus with her face down. Instead all he could do was grip her by the hair and think _mine_ , my cousin and my wife, Bella, who will never leave me, who _can_ never leave me. 

He was surprised to feel resistance when he thrust into her. Was she expecting his mother to check the sheets for blood? Well, he wouldn't put it past her, and there _were_ spells for that. She clenched around him with the pain, briefly, and he had a fleeting thought of regret because he'd have been more careful if he'd been expecting it. Then again, Bella liked pain. He bit the back of her neck and she groaned, thrusting back onto his cock, fingers digging into the pillow under her.

"Do you like that?" he whispered into her ear. 

"Morgana, _shut up_ , Sirius," she said, sounding so much like herself that he was nearly thrown out of it again, aphrodisiac potion and all. But she shuddered around him and that was enough, and he was coming. He tightened his fingers in her hair again and reached under her with his other hand. The position did not lend itself to tenderness or finesse but he rubbed at her clit until she gasped and he felt the soles of her feet twitching up against his legs, and thank you, Merlin, it was over.

At least for the first night, it was over.

They got cleaned up and into night clothes. The potion she had given him didn't last particularly long, and Sirius was starting to feel shaky again as he came down. At least he still felt okay, touching her. It could have been worse.

Bellatrix twisted to the nightstand before lying down and downed a second vial, then grimaced and reached for water. She didn't volunteer an explanation, but in general aphrodisiacs wore off rather than needing counters, and if anything her breaths seemed to be coming faster after the antidote. 

Sirius couldn't resist asking, "What did you take?"

Bella glanced up through her eyelashes at him. "Elixir of Mercilessness. It's a milder version of the Ice Heart Curse. Legally has to be sold with the antidote attached, but it wears off in twenty-four hours anyway."

" _Why?_ " Sirius said.

Bellatrix shrugged. "The same as the aphrodisiac for you. I needed it for the consummation." A long time later, when Sirius was starting to drift off, she added into his hair, "I think the age difference is harder my way."


End file.
